One of the most embarrassing aspects of being Al Gore is the propensity of the weather to turn frigid virtually every time Gore schedules a public event to cry wolf about global warming. The Heartland Institute yesterday proved the Gore Effect not only embarrasses global warming alarmists, but it also validates global warming realists.

Hosting its annual Emerging Issues Forum in Atlanta yesterday, The Heartland Institute put global warming prominently on the agenda. As Heartland Institute President Joe Bast asked me to give an overview of the latest scientific developments, the mercury in Atlanta acted like it was April rather than August. The high temperature yesterday was merely 73 degrees, obliterating the previous record for the coolest August 15 in Atlanta history. The previous August 15 record low for a high temperature was 77 degrees.

While global warming realists frequently point out the uncanny persistence of the Gore Effect, I have noticed a similar Heartland Effect in which temperatures tend to be unusually cool when I give a public talk on global warming.

The cynic may argue the Gore Effect and the Heartland Effect are mere coincidences. After all, meteorologist Anthony Watts pointed out on his Watts Up With That Web site that U.S. cold temperature records outnumbered warm temperature records by a 10–1 ratio last month. So perhaps the Gore Effect and the Heartland Effect really are mere coincidences. I, however, prefer to believe that there is meaning and direction behind this.

The 2013 hurricane season is nearing its midpoint, yet hurricane activity is virtually nonexistent. The United States is currently undergoing its longest period in recorded history without a major hurricane strike. Global hurricane activity also is in prolonged decline.

What would happen if they threw a global warming protest but nobody showed up? That question is no longer theoretical. Not a single person showed up for a global warming protest called by Organizing for Action, an activist group that formerly served as President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. There has been speculation some rain in the Washington, DC area Tuesday convinced people staying dry is more important than protesting global warming. Others speculate nobody would have showed up anyway. Either way, here is another global warming-related all-time record that will never be broken: fewest people to show up for an organized global warming protest.

Global warming activists increasingly target young schoolchildren with propaganda designed to turn the younger generation into global warming activists. Just how severely has global warming affected young schoolchildren? Science blogger Steven Goddard puts the issue in memorable context, publishing a global temperature chart since the year 2001 and noting, “Elementary School Children Have Only Experienced Global Cooling.”

Prominent global warming activist James Hansen called out U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell for publicly proclaiming, “I hope there are no climate change deniers in the Department of Interior.”

Well, that’s not quite right. Hansen in fact did not issue any statement after Jewell’s attempt to censor Interior Department scientists. But his public crusade against alleged censorship of government scientists during the George W. Bush administration rings especially true today.

“In my more than three decades in the government I’ve never witnessed such restrictions on the ability of scientists to communicate with the public,” said Hansen in 2006 after NASA implemented content-neutral rules regarding government scientists speaking on behalf of NASA. Under the rules, Hansen was never forbidden to make a planned public statement or pressured to change a public statement. That is changing under Interior Secretary Jewell.